Having a base CB set-up can provide an ideal "control" for CB use around the farm and surrounding countryside. Base station CB aerials tend to be bigger and mounted higher than the vehicle aerials so have much better range, and can pass information between mobiles that might be out of range of each other, and provide a link to a land-line phone.

Managers can co-ordinate work from the office and if you have workshops, houses, stores and other outbuildings spread out over your land or even in other parts of the area, simple base installations can be the way to get truly efficient communications with the entire workforce.

The Homebase CB set

There are no longer any mains powered CB's made, so for base installation most people use a standard vehicle mounting CB with a power supply to change mains voltage to 13.8v which is the optimum voltage for a CB.

You could use a spare 12v vehicle battery if you need, a standard CB only draws a small amount of power so a battery in good condition would not need charging very often. OK in a workshop or outbuilding, not so good to have batteries like this in the home or office though.

The Homebase CB Aerial

There are several base aerials available - as with vehicle aerials, the larger the better in terms of performance.

You will also need to take into account the type of weather it will encounter, as some of the cheaper aerials have a tendency to bend in the wind - if you are in an exposed position with high winds, it might be better to have a fibreglass aerial (designed to be flexible, so have more "give" in them) rather than one made out of telescopic aluminium sections.

We always stock a good selection of the base aerials, large and small - some of them are designed for pole mounting, but some can be screwed directly to a building - on the soffit board, wall or chimney.Click here to view our homebase CB aerials

For pole mounting, you can just stick the pole in the ground or attach it to a building with a pair of brackets called T&K brackets - these go one above the other and will hold a pole securely to the wall. By using T&K brackets you can use a fairly short pole but still have a good height advantage over what you would have with a pole directly into the ground.

We can supply 6' poles that are swaged at one end and can interlock, although i wouldn't put more than 2 together, making 12'. A scaffold pole might be suitable, although you may need a thinner pole at the top for the aerial to fit onto as the diameter of a scaffold pole is too large for some aerials, and it may be too heavy for normal T&K bracket fixing.

Another option might be to approach a local TV aerial-rigging company as they might have a pole they can supply you.

You could also try a company called TLC who sell 10' and 12' alloy masts and have 20 branches throughout the UK - although mostly in the South of England. Call 0208-646-6866 or log onto http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk for your most local outlet.

The smaller aerials can be used inside a loft or ousthouse, but not buildings with corrugated iron roofs, or that used lead in their construction. Obviously, any aerial will work best out in the open, with a clear "view" of the surrounding area and even the small ones give good performance in this case.

If two base stations have reasonable efficient aerials, a base-to-base range of up to 20 miles can be achievable - depending on terrain.